Hosea, Part XIV

I don't know about you, but by the end of the sixth chapter, I would have been done with both Israel and Judah. 

Enough warning, I'd say.  You deserve what is coming to you. I gave you mercy, but you returned rebuke.  I gave you forgiveness, but you gave me forgetfulness. I gave you life, but you chose lies. Enough.

But I am not God. 

I can only ponder eternity.

But God dwells in eternity.  

I can only ponder the grief and anguish God feels towards His people who have prostituted themselves away from His love and care.

But God dwells in His grief.

I can only ponder His anger, relating to how I would feel if those I love cast away my love and debauched themselves in a whirlwind of lies and deception.

But God dwells in His righteous indignation. 

God says, "I want to heal Israel, but its sins are too great." (7:1) 

God could leave it at that, and His people would either (1) ignore Him (2) minimize His concerns, thinking He's overreacting (3) attack His prophet, wanting him to just shut up (4) feel a tiny bit guilty but would carry on nonetheless (5) spout practical reasons why sin is OK and God just doesn't get it (6) all of the above.

It would appear that #6 is the correct answer. 

But God dwells in righteousness and will not brook sin in any shape or form.

Then God lists, through Hosea, all of the sins that are "too great." God is very clear about what He is doing; He will not ignore what is happening with His people: 

Its people don’t realize 

   that I am watching them.
Their sinful deeds are all around them,
   and I see them all. (7:2) 

Here we go:

• The king and his princes all think that what the people are doing is entertaining
• The people are always on fire with lust
• The princes drink and then hang out with those who "mock them" 
• These people are always plotting and planning intrigue and will one day go after their leaders and kill them

("And no one cries to Me for help," v.7)

• The people weaken their strength by cavorting with foreign gods, 

("Their arrogance testifies against them, yet they don't return to the LORD their God or even try to find Him," v. 10)

• The people look to pagan leaders for security

("I will punish them for all they do," v.12) 

God is lamenting the sorrow that awaits those who have deserted Him; He wants to redeem them, but they lie about Him. They "do not cry out to Me with sincere hearts," (v. 14)  In their woe, they instead do pagan rituals to enlist the help of pagan gods for their survival and forget it is God who made them strong and provided for them: "They look everywhere except to the Most High," (v. 16)

What is the result of this repudiation of God and His covenant relationship with His people?  They will die by their enemies and Egypt --the strong pagan power that it is--"will laugh at them."

Thus closes chapter 7.  God is very specific in His list of what the people are doing to betray Him: whoring after pagan gods; enlisting foreign kings for protection and living lives that are utterly contrary to everything that God's covenant and law stands for.  The people are in spiritual disarray, having bought the lie that pagan gods and foreign power are what they need.

But God dwells in truth.

Always has.  

Then, one day, God comes and dwells in flesh:

 
In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it... 

So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. (John 1:1-5 & 14)

Then God embodies (literally and figuratively) the truth:

“You are a king then?” Pilate asked.
“You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied.
“I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.” (John 18:37)

I find it fascinating that Jesus speaks this to a pagan power. A life, a faith and a society not predicated on God's truth will lust after pleasure, power and prestige.

 

Hosea speaks the word.

Jesus becomes the Word.

Hosea points to God and His righteousness.

Jesus becomes God's righteousness.

Hosea comes to point his people back to life in God.

Jesus comes to be life in God.

God comes closer and closer to His sinful children, and then one day, dwells among them, in righteousness and truth.  

How can we ever say that God is harsh, wrath-filled and angry, full of judgment and a willingness to punish His children?

Christ comes to prove that God is kind, forgiving and loving, full of redemption and a willingness to bring back His children to His side.

Oh, and one more thing: the side that He draws us back to?  

Look: It has a scar.

 

Hosea, Part XIII

It's interesting that the prophet is now talking about both Israel and Judah at the end of chapter 6. 

Did Judah think they would slip the noose because the Temple was in their midst?  That the City of David was in their land?  

Why do we think we are the exception?  We look around at everyone else who are doing the same things we are and yet we convince ourselves that judgement won't happen to us, because ___________________ (name your favorite exception).

Why do we think that God's judgement is limited to "those people"? Isn't that perhaps the greatest sin of the Pharisees, thinking that because they were (in their own estimation) truly righteousness and everyone else had fallen short, that they wouldn't come under God's holy scrutiny?

But Jesus laid that notion to rest when He said, "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:20)

The Pharisees thought that their utter devotion to the Law in terms of adherence is what mattered most. But the Law was a way to shepherd God's people, so that they would role model what God demanded of all of humanity. The Israelites were to be a blessing to all nations, not to just themselves. They were to model a godly society, based on a moral code that honored God and humanity. 

The Pharisees forgot the human element of the Law--not just rituals but a relationship with God and with other people. 

The Law wasn't a barrier but a bridge to pleasing God by loving Him with all of our heart, mind and soul. We just read in Hosea how God said, "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. (6:6). 

Jesus repeated these same verses when He dined with "those people": 

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matt. 9:13) 

Ironically, we love to cite John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." This is a verse that speaks to how the gift of salvation in Christ was not intended for any one group, but for everyone. 

But we are less incline to quote 2 Corinthians 5:10: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil."

If salvation, in Christ, came to everyone, then judgement will as well. 

Israel (literally and figuratively) may go down first, but Judah (literally and figuratively) will be right behind her. 

But what about the people in both Israel and Judah who loved the Lord, followed Him with all their heart, mind and soul, and were aghast at what they saw their fellow Jews doing?  I don't think Hosea was the only person who was angry and saddened by how far the northern kingdom had fallen.  There were people who grieved about how her kings were corrupt, the people idolatrous and their love for God and His Law subsumed under utterly immoral practices that had nothing in common with His love and Law.

Love and Law.  Hmmm.  The two are expressed most beautifully in the Ten Commandments.  The first four laws are about God and the other six are about how a person should treat others.

The love of God is expressed in how we worship and act in His name but equally in how we treat one another. The Pharisees thought they'd nailed it because they followed the Law carefully and methodically. They had forgotten the other way the Law is expressed, by treating others in a loving way with compassion.  

Hosea says at the end of chapter 6 and on into the first few verses of chapter 7: 

I have seen a horrible thing in Israel:

There Ephraim is given to prostitution,

Israel is defiled.
Also for you, Judah,
a harvest is appointed. (6:10-11) 

God wants restoration, and not judgement, above all else. But in order to restore us, our sin must be revealed:  

Whenever I would restore the fortunes of my people,

whenever I would heal Israel,

the sins of Ephraim are exposed
and the crimes of Samaria revealed.
They practice deceit,
thieves break into houses,
bandits rob in the streets;
but they do not realize
that I remember all their evil deeds.
Their sins engulf them;
they are always before me. (Hosea 6:11, 7:1-2) 

This is why Jesus is so beautiful:  He is the Great Physician, for He sees sin as a kind of illness.  Interesting to note that the word in Greek for "saved" (sozo) is also the word for "healed."  As John Mark Comer comments in Practicing the Way: 

Because salvation is a kind of healing…it’s about having your soul healed by God’s loving touch. Salvation is not just getting back on the right side of God’s mercy through judicial acquittal; it’s about having your soul healed by God’s loving touch. Ironically, the same sin that keeps us from relationship with God can be healed only by God. Yet again, we need to be saved…And the beginning of our healing/salvation is what Christians call ‘confession’…It’s about courageously naming your woundedness and wickedness in the presence of loving community as you journey together toward wholeness…God is the physician; we’re the patient. All we can do is set our sin in his light. His job is to deal with our sin; our job is to confess our secrets…The journey to healing begins with naming your illness…” [1] 

He then gives us a wonderful quote by James Baldwin: “Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” [2]

That is why Hosea was prophesying in the first place.  God, though him, was diagnosing the illness that plagued the heart of the people: sin.  God sought to restore the people, who would die (literally and figuratively) if they were not restored by God's healing touch.  

The diagnosis may have seemed harsh to the people but God was (and still is) not in the business of sugar-coating the things we don't want to hear.  In fact, God is quite the opposite. He is direct and forceful when He is diagnosing the severity and the lethality of our condition.  

Jesus made it clear the truth above all else is what leads to restoration: 

Then Pilate said, “So, are you a king or not?” Jesus answered, “You tell me. Because I am King, I was born and entered the world so that I could witness to the truth. Everyone who cares for truth, who has any feeling for the truth, recognizes my voice.” (John 18:37 MSG)

What was true in Hosea's day is equally applicable to every century that has rolled on past, including ours:

This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is. (John 3:19 MSG)

What was true for Israel and Judah long ago still applies. God is the same, yesterday, today and forever, and so is His call for loving Him, one another and and being obedient to His ways. 

We seek healing, and He offers us the truth and the Truth.   

[1] John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way, pp. 95-96

[2] John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way, p. 96

 

 

 

 

Hosea, Part XII

Here we go.  We are exploring Hosea, chapter 6.  We have just heard the voice of Hosea himself, telling the people that despite God having judged them, He is all about bandaging their wounds and restoring them.

After the correction, comes the love. 

After the love?  Exasperation:

“O Israel and Judah,
what should I do with you?” asks the Lord.
“For your love vanishes like the morning mist
and disappears like dew in the sunlight.
I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces—
to slaughter you with my words,
with judgments as inescapable as light.
I want you to show love,
not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me
more than I want burnt offerings.
But like Adam, you broke my covenant
and betrayed my trust." (6:6-7) 

What kills our relationship with God?  

Rituals without relationship. 

Rituals without realty.

When the people in Israel and Judah were not engaged in rituals with the Canaanite gods, they were just going through the motions with the Mosaic requirements. They were doing the rituals without wanting to know who God was.  They were not interested in a relationship with Him. 

A relationship causes us to engage in introspection: Am I truly loving this person to the best of my ability?  Am I being hypocritical--saying one thing and then doing another--or am I being sincere in all I do, even if I don't always get it right?

Equally, when the people thought they could accommodate both--God and the gods--their grasp of reality was deeply deluded.  God made it clear they could not serve both: Light and darkness could not and should not mix.  They recreated a new reality of following God: a spiritual adultery that they thought God would turn a blind eye to.  They reasoned that God would understand and forgive them  because they were His chosen people. They considered that God didn't mind as much as the prophets said He did, and that He was more open than He was made out to be.  Surely, He must have understood how the people wanted to serve the gods of the land they were in, due to its abundance and if they wanted that to continue, they needed to join their neighbors. 

To them, all of this was obvious.  It wasn't sin, it was survival. 

Really?

When people have an adulterous affair, they are not prioritizing the relationship with their spouse.  Perhaps, due to repeated lapses in making their marriage the most important thing in their lives, the relationship no longer holds sway over what they say and do.  They also have deluded themselves that  they deserve to be happy; their spouse doesn't really care anymore about the marriage; the children will be happier if the parents stopped fighting and finally, why not?  A lot of people have affairs, and the sky doesn't fall in.

God was grieving how His prophets' words couldn't penetrate the people's stony hearts.  God wasn't about the rituals--He wanted their sincere love. He wanted them to know Him and know Him well.  

Their spiritual adultery elicited two emotions in God: He was deeply angry that they had defied the King of the Universe and He was devastated at their wanton breaking of the covenant that was akin to a marriage.

God's anger doesn't surprise us.  He had every right to be incensed by their horrible rituals for the Canaanite gods and their disregard for human life.  But if you have heard people say that the God of the Old Testament is a harsh God, and is only concerned with judgement, the next verses show us why that belief is wrong: 

“O Judah, a harvest of punishment is also waiting for you, 

though I wanted to restore the fortunes of my people.

Gilead is a city of sinners, tracked with footprints of blood. 

Priests form bands of robbers,

waiting in ambush for their victims.

They murder travelers along the road to Shechem 

and practice every kind of sin. 

Yes, I have seen something horrible in Ephraim and Israel:

My people are defiled by prostituting themselves with other gods!

O Judah, a harvest of punishment is also waiting for you,

though I wanted to restore the fortunes of my people." (6:8-11)

When the people broke the covenant with God and violated His trust (verse 7), it was because the leaders were aiding and abetting the people's disobedience by doing so themselves. The commandments, given by Moses, were a visible manifestation of the covenant relationship between God and His people.  If the priests themselves broke the law, they were being a contemptible role model, because they gave sin a kind of respectability: If the priests don't tell us to stop, well, why not keep going?  They don't seem to care. Why should I? 

Had Judah pointed to Israel to justify their sin, saying that the northern kingdom was getting away with pagan practices?  

Had Israel pointed to Judah to justify their sin, saying that the southern kingdom was getting away with pagan practices? 

Had they both insisted that God couldn't be all that angry because nothing had happened? All that doom and gloom was just the rantings and raving of a misguided prophet?  Didn't the prophet say that God want to "restore the fortunes of His people"? 

This argues that God was (and is not) harsh, vengeful and perpetually angry at human beings:  He was (and still is) waiting for our repentance.

But isn't that the very sin in our hearts that makes us blame Him when His judgment finally falls?  

Do you hear a distant echo here?  Do the words, "Did God really say?" come floating back?  That God is not trustworthy?  That He doesn't mean what He says?  That He doesn't say what He means? 

These lies have dogged humanity since the Garden. 

We ignore God's words and then when our lives fall apart, we echo Adam: "It was the woman you gave me..."  In other words: It's your fault, God.  Without ___________, I wouldn't have sinned.

Then we echo the words of Eve: "The serpent deceived me."  In other words: I am not at fault here. I was deceived...

This is why He sent His prophets.  He wanted His children to be fully appraised of what He expected of them, and what the consequences were if they disobeyed.  

He also wanted His children to hear His grief and hurt that His children, after all He's lovingly done for them, have turned away and ignored Him in heart and in deed. 

If God were truly irresponsible and capricious as Satan insinuates He is, humanity would have ended in the Garden, right then and there, about two minutes after God questioned our Parents. 

But God has stood by His errant and arrogant children, with warning and waiting, and a heart that  deeply wanted their repentance.  

He still warns.  

He still waits. 

 

Hosea Part XI

 I want Scripture to drive this blog.  I could take a few verses here and there, and have them be the theme of what I write.  But Scripture is more nuanced than that.  Yes, there are driving themes, but there is also commentary, asides and quick observations to the theme before the writer returns to it.  That is why I like to look at whole passages. 

Let's continue with chapter 6 of Hosea.  We hear the Lord speaking in this book, as it should be--prophecy is when the Lord speaks--but sometimes the prophet's voice is heard.  He pleads with the people to listen to what the Lord is saying. Hosea feels the full weight and import of what the Lord is saying.  He is blowing the trumpet, if you will, and is exerting all of his strength to have it be loud and clear. 

But remember, heavy is the weight of the message the messenger must bear.  He not only gets the message first, he can sense, way before the the people hear it, that God will bring either restoration or judgement and He means what He says. The people can ignore the prophet if they choose, but the prophet cannot ignore the people. 

But he also knows that he will be swept along with the events he is foretelling. The prophet is not just speaking to the people; he is part of the people. The prophet is innocent, but not so the people he speaks to.  And so he warns.     

Perhaps a good analogy to this is there are many people in America who are deeply disturbed by what is going on in this country.  They pray for America, and want to see the moral decline slow down or better yet, recede altogether.  But if God's judgement falls (and I believe it will) then those who are faithful to God will be swept right along with it. God's church is at its strongest when evil is at its worst.  People such as Corrie Ten Boom, whose family hid Jewish people during World War II, is a good example.  When the Germans invaded the Netherlands, Corrie's family started hiding Jewish people who came to their house. Eventually, they were betrayed and the family was arrested.  Corrie and her sister were sent to Ravensbruck, a notorious concentration camp for women in Germany.  

The sisters suffered terribly but were able to share their faith and love with the inmates. Corrie survived; her sister did not. 

These women suffered along with everyone else. The world needed their light.   

Jesus compares us to light.  What is the purpose of light except to drive away darkness?  If we hide our light--as Jesus taught us not to do--then the darkness wins.  The light is an argument against the darkness and whenever people act as light, they are reminding the world that the darkness need not take over--it can be driven out.  

The words of Hosea, too, were light, driving out the darkness of lies by God's truth.  

The darkness doesn't want the light and avoids it whenever possible. Jesus testifies to His own ministry as being one that challenges the darkness: 

"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God." (John 3:19-21)

Prophets were the candle-bearers of God's light. They were not just leaders in the fight for light but were participants as well. Hosea's marriage is a good example of this: He was told to marry a prostitute to exemplify the infidelity of the Israel.  He had children with her.  His domestic catastrophe spoke to the national catastrophe that was all around him. He suffered so the people would not have to.  But they did not listen.

Here we hear the prophet's own voice:

“Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces;
now he will heal us.
He has injured us;
now he will bandage our wounds.
In just a short time he will restore us,
so that we may live in his presence.
Oh, that we might know the Lord!
Let us press on to know him.
He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn
or the coming of rains in early spring.” (6:1-3) 

Notice how Hosea says, "us."  He is not just standing by while all this judgement like mighty waters rolls down--he is part of it.  This is where his humility shines through.  He could have said,

Come on, Lord, bring it on!  I am not going to these temples, cavorting with prostitutes or bowing my knee to Baal.  No.  I am standing strong in my faith.  I was even obedient to You when You asked me to marry Gomer--much to my dismay.  But I did it.  I am not like those people! I love and serve You and they get what they deserve. But I know you will spare me."

No.  Hosea knew that while his sin might not be anywhere near as egregious as his fellow Jews, he was not free from sin.  

None of us are.  That is why humility is so essential as we walk in Christ. No, I may not be doing what you're doing.  No, my sin may not so obvious as yours, so I can get away with it better than you.  But at the end of the day, we are all sinners. We all deserve to be swept away under the judgment of a loving and just God.  Yet He stays His hand.

Why?   

He wants us to repent. 

He gives us time to repent.

He tells how we must repent.

He warns what will happen if we do not repent.

He waits for us to repent.

Isaiah said it best: 

"Wash yourselves and be clean!
Get your sins out of my sight.
Give up your evil ways.
Learn to do good.
Seek justice.
Help the oppressed.
Defend the cause of orphans.
Fight for the rights of widows.

'Come now, let’s settle this,'
says the Lord.
'Though your sins are like scarlet,
I will make them as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson,
I will make them as white as wool.
If you will only obey me,
you will have plenty to eat.
But if you turn away and refuse to listen,
you will be devoured by the sword of your enemies.
I, the Lord, have spoken!'” (1:16-20) 

Hosea looks at us and says, "Can I get an amen?"

Hosea, Part X

Is compromise really possible with the world?  Can a follower of Yahweh praise Him and then cozy up to Baal? 

Jesus made it very how the world will respond to His followers:  

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’" (John 15:18-25) 

Paul makes it very clear what our role is: 

"For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, 'Come back to God!'" (2 Cor. 5:19-20) 

But to assume that even if we are deeply committed Christians, doing our best to be that sweet aroma, that loyal ambassador and a person who truly loves others, we will not be hated, is a delusion. We will experience condemnation and backlash.  Count on it. They lashed out at Jesus, so we can't expect anything less.  But Peter makes it clear that when we suffer, it must be for Christ and not for our sin:   

Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world. If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian...So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you. (1 Peter 4:14-16 & 19) 

Israel had that same charge: to be a blessing to all nations. How so? Israel would model a society where the sanctity of human life and a life of obedience to a just and loving God would be a powerful counter argument to the way of the pagan world, whose values were the very opposite. God gave that charge to Abraham: "through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Gen. 22:18)

In Hosea's day, Israel had become no different than the nations around it. When we do not act differently from the world, what's the point of becoming a Christian in the first place? If we follow Christ, but live a life that aligns with the world's values, why would people even notice us, much less care about Jesus?  Our churches become country clubs with Bibles, and our witness is compromised, making it rather useless for inviting people to consider Jesus.

Most of the time, when Christian leaders fall from the heights of their popularity, the world notices. If you or I fail, it is no less catastrophic.  The people we know and have talked to, and who have seen our faith in action, will look at us and say, "Was it real? Was any of it real?  Is this whole Jesus-thing real?" 

  

In looking at the first few verses in chapter 5, we see God accusing the priests and the royal family for ensnaring their people by leading them into idol worship. The sad thing is the people went right along with it.  There have been times in history when people looked at their leaders and would not follow them; more often than not, people follow the leaders and then the leaders justify their behavior, because they can say that they're only giving the people what they want. 

God then goes on to say that Judah (the southern kingdom) will be no different than Israel.  Why? They are both guilty of "prostitution"--the unholy dependance and reverence for the gods of the Canaanites. 

God then says, 

“Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God.
A spirit of prostitution is in their heart;
they do not acknowledge the Lord.
Israel’s arrogance testifies against them;
the Israelites, even Ephraim, stumble in their sin;
Judah also stumbles with them.
When they go with their flocks and herds
to seek the Lord,
they will not find him;
he has withdrawn himself from them." (5:4-6) 

Will the people notice that the Lord has left them?  They seek Him, but are they sincere in their seeking?  Or do they expect Him to be there because they are the chosen ones and Yahweh picked them out of all the nations on earth? Why would He desert them?  

God is very clear as to why: "They are unfaithful to the Lord" (v. 7)

They don't argue for His existence--they are willing to seek Him. They don't reject their status as the chosen people. They still possess their heritage and history, where God raised up leaders (such as Moses, Joshua and David) in times of peril.  God always came through for them--so are they banking on that again, despite all of this talk about judgment?   

God is emphatic that judgment is coming and it won't be mitigated by history, heritage, a deliverer or Him relenting at the last minute. Why? God says, "The people of Israel will be crushed and broken by my judgment because they are determined to worship idols." (v. 11) 

Another way to render that second part of that verse is they are "determined to follow human commands."

Either way, the people refuse to--and here's the missing piece to all of this--humbly repent and seek God, not in the image they have created of Him, but for who He truly is.  

If they really sought God for who He truly is, they would drop idol worship immediately.  Full stop. 

But they don't.  They are determined to continue in their shameful practices, and call on gods that demand reprobate behavior.  These gods stand for everything that this evil world celebrates. 

God is having none of it. 

Once God's judgment has fallen upon them, God will wait: 

"Then I will return to my place
until they admit their guilt and turn to me.
For as soon as trouble comes,
they will earnestly search for me.” (15)

God is waiting for repentance.  God knows what we have done.  He wants to forgive us.  He wants us to repent.  But He equally wants us to own what we have done, admit our guilt and humbly asked for His  forgiveness.  

After any major catastrophe, people turn to God.  I remember people after 9/11 singing, praying and wanting God to be once more present in our national life.  It wasn't very long before America returned to business as usual.  Why?  We want God when we can't control, fix or do anything to change a situation. It is at that moment we realize how small and powerless we truly are and how only God Himself will be able to pull us out or pull us through.  

Once we are back to doing what we want, do we delude ourselves that God won't judge us because of our history, heritage, strong military and how God has always come through for us? Why would He not do this now? 

Are we repenting in humility and sincerity or asking God to get us out of our latest scrape?

Did the people of the northern kingdom really care at the end of the day?  

You can just hear them: Nothing bad has happened as of yet.  Hosea has been blathering on now for many decades.  Warning after warning.  It's all rather boring. In fact, we even asked the king of Assyria to help us (v. 13) so why would they then destroy as Hosea keeps insisting they will? 

All of this judgment stuff is so unfair.  Yeah, we sin, but how can you deny how well taken care of this land is by its gods?  A little compromise doesn't really hurt.  If God was going to judge us, He would have a long time ago. Still waiting, God.

Yes, we are still waiting.  We have had a lot of indications that life here in America is not going well. But remember: God does not act quickly, but suddenly.  

 

 

Hosea, Part IX

The Divine Prosecutor is not mincing any words about why He is disgusted with His people. God is very clear:  He is the One who is facing His people, and here is what they have done, and this is why He is angry. Nothing could be clearer than that. Let us go back into the courtroom.

"Wine has robbed my people of their understanding." (4:11) 

Let's stop there.  Wine is a choice--no one is forcing inebriation upon the people.  May I expand the list? 

Alcohol...drugs...cell phones...sex...entertainment...social causes...anything that distracts us way from God is a "wine."  No one forces this "wine" on us.  We choose it. When we are distracted, we lean on our own understanding.  We don't know what to do when life isn't so dependable or comprehensible. We lose a job; our spouse files for divorce; our kid wants to be a girl; our pastor is preaching doctrine that is only faintly biblical and we just don't know which end is up anymore.  Our "wine" has blunted our spiritual awareness of God and His presence.  So what do we do?

Well, in Hosea's day, they consulted idols: 

"They ask a piece of wood for advice!
They think a stick can tell them the future!
Longing after idols
has made them foolish.
They have played the prostitute,
serving other gods and deserting their God." (v.12)

Then, what did the people do when the way was not clear? 

"They offer sacrifices to idols on the mountaintops.
They go up into the hills to burn incense
in the pleasant shade of oaks, poplars, and terebinth trees.
That is why your daughters turn to prostitution,
and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
But why should I punish them
for their prostitution and adultery?
For your men are doing the same thing,
sinning with whores and shrine prostitutes." (vs. 13-14) 
O foolish people! You refuse to understand,
so you will be destroyed." (vs. 13-14)

Of course.  The people, with no vision, were perishing.  So, they turned to what they were accustomed to...which is sad.  The people have been used to consulting other gods by engaging in reprehensible practices, and so, in their confusion on how to proceed, they defaulted to their usual evil.

Not only the older generation but the younger people were engaging in these practices.  The adults had failed to teach the ways of Yahweh, so it was no surprise that the younger generation didn't know any better.  Why would they? 

If we don't teach, and more importantly model Christ-like behavior, then the younger generation will not understand His ways, and the culture will fill in the gap.  Relying on that verse in Proverbs that tells us that if we train up a child in God's ways, they won't depart from it, is not a free pass for our behavior.  The "training up" must be a "living out" of what it means to follow Christ.

Many adult children do not follow the faith of their parents.  Somewhere along the line, what the parents said and what they did started to unravel.  Rules replaced love; self replaced selflessness and compromise replaced following Christ closely. 

We are always training up our children, because we are always walking in Christ, and showing them how we deal with each life stage in a godly way.  Our training falls by the wayside if we are not walking consistently.  And if we fail, we are quick to seek His forgiveness, and that of those around us. 

We now have many children who don't know the things of God, because their parents walked away from faith, having repudiated what they experienced themselves as children growing up in a Christian home.  I know we all make mistakes as believers, but I have seen parents who thought that judging their children's faith was acceptable because it didn't conform to what they thought Christianity should be like and now those children have grown up, not wanting faith.

Each generation must find Christ in their own idiom.  As long as the Bible is upheld, how the younger generation expresses their faith is up to them.  

I taught in a Christian school where several of the older teachers were aghast that one of my middle school students was wearing blue nail polish.  They wanted my students to wear only pinks and corals, as proper Christian girl should do.(!)  

It is that kind of thinking that drives younger people away, because if wearing blue nail polish is tantamount to sin, then why bother? When sin is defined by tradition and not by the Bible, it loses its potency to correct our behavior. 

 So, what will happen to all of the generations occupying Israel?

"O foolish people! You refuse to understand, so you will be destroyed." (v. 14)

Ignorance can be fixed.  Arrogance cannot.  So, the people, in refusing to reacquaint themselves with  Yahweh's ways as taught by the prophets, they will soon reap what they sowed. 

God is always interested in repentance. He does not want His people to be destroyed, but He cannot abide sin year after year after year. If the people refuse to listen to His word, as proclaimed by His prophets, their arrogance will lead them into the deep waters of judgement. Ezekiel 33:11 captures God's sorrow: “Tell them, ‘As sure as I am the living God, I take no pleasure from the death of the wicked. I want the wicked to change their ways and live. Turn your life around! Reverse your evil ways! Why die, Israel?’" (The Message) 

God is mourning what is coming to His people as a result of their sin. He laments over Israel, and hopes her example will be a warning to Judah, her southern neighbor: 

“Though you, Israel, are a prostitute,
may Judah not be guilty of such things.
Do not join the false worship at Gilgal or Beth-aven,
and do not take oaths there in the Lord’s name.
Israel is stubborn,
like a stubborn heifer.
So should the Lord feed her
like a lamb in a lush pasture?
Leave Israel alone,
because she is married to idolatry.
When the rulers of Israel finish their drinking,
off they go to find some prostitutes.
They love shame more than honor.

So a mighty wind will sweep them away.
Their sacrifices to idols will bring them shame." (4:15-19)

Why do we, in our modern America, think we will escape God's judgment?  You could argue we are not His chosen people, but we have, in our history, identified ourselves as a Christian nation.  With great power comes great responsibility, and we are losing our moral standards by allowing the culture to define us. 

We want the culture to approve of us.  But will they?  Ever? Or will they continue to chip away at our faith until there is nothing left?

I am not proclaiming a nationalistic approach.  I am advocating a personal approach.  We must live our lives so that people see a difference. I am advocating a grassroots approach.   

The sacrifices prescribed in Leviticus resulted in "a pleasing aroma to the Lord." What made that aroma even possible was the sacrifice itself. Jesus was our sacrifice. Now His aroma becomes our own: "Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God." (Eph. 5:2)

 
Not everyone will respond positively to what they sense in us, but that doesn't absolve us from allowing His fragrance to emanate from us: "For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life." (2 Cor. 2:15-16)

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Hosea, Part VIII

The Divine Prosecutor is not giving any quarter to those who lead the people. God is furious at how His priests--people who are called to serve Him and teach the people--are actually deleterious to His kingdom.  He lays the blame squarely on the shoulders of those who know better, but do not do better.

This is rather startling, but how often do religious leaders benefit from the very people they purport to serve?  Religion puts a respectable patina over carnal motivations.  The leaders can justify what they do because the people love them: 

I just love when my people look up to me, and you know what, why not? I heard the call from the Lord and I am doing His will. He has blessed me and I am indispensable in the lives of my people. They look to me to teach them about God, and that's what I do.

The money I receive is compensation for all my hard work. Why shouldn't I use that money to buy a jet, a big house, a fine wardrobe or those things that show that my followers love me and how God is blessing me? I am showing them how much I love them by letting them see how much I enjoy what they give me! It's a win-win for everyone.

What do the followers say?

Oh, I just love it when my teacher opens up her Bible and teaches me.  I actually understand it.  How could she be so wonderful if God wasn't working in her?  She has so many people come to hear her.  Yes, I know.  Sometimes her words are more, well, her words, rather than God's holy word, but she seems to know what she is doing.  I trust her.  I should open my Bible and pray for His wisdom, but I trust she is getting it from God and so I get it from her.  

So, the followers trust the teachers to explain the Word and they do not study it themselves. The leaders exploit the trust of their followers to meet their material needs at the expense of God's truth. 

Has anything really changed? 

What does the Divine Prosecutor say? 

“When the people bring their sin offerings, the priests get fed. So the priests are glad when the people sin!" (4:8)

Wow. The priests have clearly created an environment where they do not excoriate sin by emphasizing  how contrary it is to Yahweh, but then act all indignant when the people sin, demanding that they bring sin offerings! It's a twisted win-win. 

It's as if the priests are spiritual loan sharks:

Hey, go visit those temples!  It's not that big of a sin!  Yes, you've heard Yahweh doesn't like when you sin, but I am His priest and I say what you are doing in those temples with those prostitutes and all the offerings you are making is really not that offensive to Yahweh.  Don't listen to those old priests--they are so out of touch with what Yahweh is revealing to us today.  

Sometime later that day...

You did what?  You stepped over the line with that! I said going to the temple wasn't all that wrong, but you went multiple times last week?  You're kidding, right?  No? OK, this calls for some serious offerings to offset your lack of judgment. Hand it over.  No, I mean more.  This is going to take more.  Much more. 

So the ugliness continues. The priests are capricious in their teaching as to what Yahweh demands of His chosen, and the people are are confused as to which way is up. 

Jesus had no tolerance for the spiritual loan sharks of His day. In Matthew 23, He is uncompromising when He expounds the seven woes of the Pharisees and how they have used their authority to destroy His Father's place in the lives of His people.  This particular woe captures what the priests of Hosea's day were doing:

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves." (Matt. 23:13-15) 

In other words, out of the evil hearts of the Pharisees came evil teachings, making the Jewish people of Jesus' day confused at best.  But at worse, the people emulated the behavior of the Pharisees and committed evil themselves.  The nation of Israel was then a terrible witness to the Gentiles around them.

Back to Hosea's day: How can the priests of Yahweh minister to the Canaanites when their teachings are really no different from the priests of Baal?  How can the Israelites be a blessing to all nations when they are no different from all nations?  

But the Divine Prosecutor is not going to let the people off the hook.  They have the Torah.  They have the history of God's mighty deliverance from the slavery of Egypt, His provision in the desert and the founding fathers of the faith: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  

The people know. Thus, they should be pushing back on the priests, by telling them that what they are doing is contrary to Yahweh. 

9 "'And what the priests do, the people also do.'

So now I will punish both priests and people
for their wicked deeds.
They will eat and still be hungry.
They will play the prostitute and gain nothing from it,
for they have deserted the Lord
to worship other gods." (9-10)

It takes two to sin, and in this case, priest and pupil are culpable. 

Does this message about leaders and followers ring true today?  Yes.  How much teaching is being done in the name of Christ, and is contrary to the Word of God outright?  Or, how much teaching has been based on a few proof-texts, twisted to construct a whole new theology? The leaders then benefit, because many people flock to hear and follow them, making the leaders celebrities.   

Why?  Because we would rather have someone tell us what the Word says, rather than partner with the Holy Spirit and allow Him to teach us.  He will not teach a verse here and there, but He will show us the full counsel of God. 

But we must humble ourselves.  The people of Hosea's day lost humility as they arrogantly sought a "better" way than the Torah.  As a result, their behavior degraded and mocked the values of Yahweh. 

We are no different, and God's warnings are as relevant today as they were then.